Viagra

When it comes to talking about Sildenafil citrate, people, other than physicians or health care providers, may believe that such is the name of a sort of tropical drink that they never heard of before, but if we say that this drug is nothing other that Viagra, things change radically.

Introduced for the treatment of erectile dysfunction by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, Sildenafil is in fact a PDE5 inhibitor of cyclic guanosine monophosphate, resulting from citrate salt of sildenafil. World-famous as "The Blue Pill" Viagra is commonly associated with being an impotence cure, but also used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

The active compound of the formula developed by Pfizer relaxes the smooth muscle of the penis, increasing the flow of blood into it to promote an erection. In its natural form, Sildenafil is a white crystalline powder, soluble in water. Under the brand name "Viagra" this medications is blue, and formulated in rounded-diamond shape coated pills in doses of 25 mg, 50 mg and 100 mg.

Viagra is an oral drug classified within the phosphodiesterase inhibitors, which formulation includes a number of other ingredients such as lactose, croscarmellose sodium, triacetin, anhydrous dibasic calcium phosphate, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, hypromellose, titanium dioxide, and FD & C Blue #2 aluminum lake.

However, the active ingredient is Sildenafil citrate, designated chemically as 1-[[3-(6,7-dihydro-1-methyl-7-oxo-3-propyl-1H-pyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidin-5-yl) -4-ethoxyphenyl]sulfonyl]-4-methylpiperazine citrate, a name that none of us could associate with the once called "miracle pill".

Sildenafil citrate directly inhibits the PDE5 enzyme, which is produced in the penis during sexual intercourse, making erections last longer. So the longer the enzyme is present when having sex, the more blood flow and increasing chances of erection. As a chemical compound, Sildenafil was synthesized at Pfizer's Sandwich, the Kent research facility and global manufacturing center of the pharmaceutical company.

Originally developed to treat angina pectoris and high blood pressure, Sildenafil was patented as Viagra in 1996, and approved in the United States in 1998 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a treatment for erectile dysfunction, being the first drug of its type approved in America.

After the big success of Viagra, generating sales that exceeded $1 billion from 1999 to 2001, many other drugs have been introduced such as Revatio, Pfizer's Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension treatment, Vardenafil, Tadalafil, or some other generic names. This is a prescription drug in which dosage is determined by individual consultation.

Health care providers recommend the intake of a pill once a day, but especially from 30 minutes to 4 hours prior to having sex. Viagra costs approximately $10 USD per pill and its action is not affected by age, race, underlying diseases or duration of the patient's erectile dysfunction.